"free" veggies
 

Hi
I am still new to the program (day 6) so I am checking out all the great discussions on this site. My coach told me that only lettuce was "free" or unlimited, but I have seen some posts saying that celery is too. What has everyone else heard?

And what is the "ideal to go" site? Is it cheaper to order from them rather than my clinic?

My coach and my Phase 1 sheet only says lettuce too.

Hello,

To my knowledge, only lettuce is free on this diet. Celery should be measured while measuring your 2 cups of allowed vegetables a day.

As for the ideal to go, it is a program that allow people who live in an area where there is no IP coaches to purchase their IP products online, but they don't let everybody buy from their site, you have to live in an area where you can't do IP through a center.

Just confirming what's already been said before - according my Phase 1 IP Protocol sheet only lettuce is 'free', celery should be counted as a vegetable, and idealtogo is for those out of the way from a clinic (the price is the same on the site, plus you pay shipping).

I now buy my IP products from buyproteinfood.com. Free U.S. shipping on everything, no minimum order. Not sure about costs to ship outside the U.S. $27/box, $4.00/indiv. packet, and NO TAX. My clinic charges 9% tax. They don't always have everything in stock but have most stuff. Ex--no broccoli/cheese soup when I ordered earlier this week. (But my clinic didn't have any, either, when I joined and was out for awhile.) I was still buying a box now and then from the clinic so they wouldn't realize that I'm not getting everything from them, but this clinic is so busy that's hard to even get the same coach every time (even though there is a schedule and I have never changed my day/time). So, no one knows that I'm not buying from them.

wow- i just checked out the buyprotein site. It is perfect. I will just have to figure out how to make sure my dr doesn't realize I am not buying everything from them. I love the sample packets on the buyprotein site.
Thanks so much for the great info!

Oh NO!!!! Am I messing up? I thought you are supose to have 2 cups veggies at lunch and 2 with dinner??? :?:

I think it was a mistype - you are supposed to have 4 cups veggies a day. 2 cups @ lunch, 2 cups @ dinner (or spread across meals if you fell so inclined - just get the 4 cups/day!).

Indeed! Sorry, I meant to say in your 4 cups of veggies a day :)

My coach has told me romaine lettuce, celery and cucumbers are free food. They do not count towards your 4 cups of veggies, even if u want it to. Lol.

My clinic says only lettuce is unlimited, just like the sheet says. Also only 2 tsp per day of WF products, egg whites counts as my dinner protein, and we are allowed up to 4 packets of stevia/splenda per day, however I limit myself to 1 per day (if that even) because it causes cravings for me.

1 medium cucumber (about 8" long): with peel: 9 grams effective (net) carbohydrate plus 2 grams fiber and 45 calories; without peel: 4 grams effective (net) carbohydrate plus 2 grams fiber and 34 calories

Could you imagine if cucumbers were unlimited in phase 1......they would add up if you were to eat say 3 a day.

Below I have copied straight from the Phase 1 Protocol PDF. Note that Cucumbers and Celery are EXPLICITLY listed in the 'Select Vegetables' list (i.e., should be counted to your 4 cups/day). So any coach advising they are 'free' along with Lettuce are not following the protocol sheet.

Note: I am not an expert by any means, but when in doubt - I always follow the sheet.

Vegetables

Select:
Algae, Alfalfa, Asparagus, Arugula, Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Bean Sprouts, Cauliflower, Cabbage (red, pak choi, bok choy), Celery, Celeriac, Chicory, Collards, Cress, Cucumbers, Dill Pickles, Endive, Fennel, Field Salad, Green Onions, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Mushrooms, Okra, Onions (raw only), Hot Peppers, Radicchio, Radish, Rhubarb, Rutabaga, Sauerkraut, Sorrel, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Turnip, Watercress, Zucchini

Occasional (You may choose two items only per week from this list):
Brussels Sprouts, Beans (Green & Wax), Eggplant, Palm Hearts, Snow Peas, Swede, Tomato

Not permitted:
Artichoke, Avocado, Beets, Carrots, Chick Peas, Corn, Olives, Parsnips, Peas, (all) Potatoes, Pumpkin, Sweet Corn, Squash, Yams

As of this week lettuce AND celery are free foods! (in Canada anyways)

Is this for sure? (I have no coach at this point). Or another one of those things where different coaches seem to be providing different info? I just had a cup of lightly cooked celery blended in with my lunch cup of tomato & basil soup today. If celery is indeed a 'freebie' now, then I technically still need 3 cups of veg by the end of the day...I had my 2nd cup of lunchtime veg in my salad with romaine lettuce.

Just fyi purposes, here's the nutritional stats I found re 1 cup of celery....

Serving Size --1 cup, diced (120.0 g)

Amount Per Serving - 1 cup
Calories 19
Calories from Fat 2
Sodium 96mg
Total Carbohydrates 3.6g
Dietary Fiber 1.9g
Sugars 2.2g
Protein 0.8g

I copied straight from my sheet (US) but as long as you follow your protocol and track/monitor your progress it all works out!

I'm from Canada and was told to count everything except for lettuce :)

A lot of people always post how their coach allows certain things as "free" items but I go off the sheet until that sheet changes by the protocol. Too many extras make me feel like i'm cheating anyways.

My coach went to the Alberta IP confrence on Monday and in Alberta they allow celery as a free food (up to 2 cups un counted per day). She even showed me info from IP as she knew I would second guess her, it comes right from the company!

What kind of lettuce is free?
 

I am a newbie, just started this week.
What kind of lettuce is free?
Some say Romane, some say Napa only..
does anyone have a list of "unlimited" lettuces.

I switched coaches part way through and it was the best move I could make. I challenged my new coach with all sorts of controversy on this site, she researched it and this is what I got back.

Celery and cucumbers are counted as your 4 cups daily veg. However if I am having a challenging time and find myself really hungry even after my daily food allotment, then I could resort to additional lettuce, celery or cucumbers to get me through. However, remember the word moderation. Best of both worlds for me.

My sheet says lettuce is green leaf, romaine, head lettuce types. I've been treating arugula like lettuce too until I noticed on the sheet one day that it is a select veg. My coach and I looked up details on my calorie counter and found arugula had fewer calories and carbs than green leaf lettuce so I'm now allowed to count that as lettuce.

Coach also confirmed raspberry jelly and blueberry cran drink are occasional freebie packets, I.e. every few days if I need a little extra but not counted as one of my three.

Your Free Vegis
 

I am reading this right from the phase one sheet:

Unlimited Raw Vegetables/Lettuce:
Arugula, bibb lettuce, boston lettuce, celery, chicory lettuce, cucumber, endives, escarole lettuce, frisee lettuce, green and red leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, mushroom, radicchio, radish, romaine lettuce, spinach and watercress lettuce.

Select Vegetables -2 cups PER MEAL [I]weigh before cooking[I]
alfalfa, asparagus, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, bell peppers, cabbage(all), cauliflower, celeriace, celery, chayote, chicory, collards, cucumbers, dill pickles, fennel, Gai Lan(chinese broccoli), green onions, jicama, kale, kohlrabi, mushrooms, okra, onions(raw only), hot peppers, radish, rhubarb, sauerkraut, spinach, swiss chard, turnip, zucchini/yellow summer squash.

thats what mine says too
http://biointelligentwellness.com/wp...-diet-6-13.pdf

It has changed over time. i remember when only lettuce allowed ... now it's possible to make awesome salads with the free vegies alone

Yep, this is the latest. Remember if those veggies are raw you can count them as free. If you choose to, because you just cannot get to 4 cups of veg (NOT counting lettuce), you can count cooked celery, mushrooms, radishes and spinach in your 4 cups. (measure before cooking though).

Newbie, too, but been reading all I can. So if we eat the "free" veggies cooked (mushrooms, celery, spinach, etc) they count towards the req'd 4 cups but if we eat them raw, we don't count them? This has really been the only thing that I am confused about so far.

Correct!! :)

You can count it either way if anything on the "unlimited" list is eaten raw - it actually allows for a lot of flexibility!

What I often do is have a spinach, mushroom and cucumber salad for lunch. If I'm still hungry later in the day, I can have up to 4 cups of veggies at dinner. if I'm not hungry, I just have my regular 2 cups at dinner and count the salad as the other 2 cups. If you have an unlimited veggie as a snack, have a full cup and then you can choose how to count it based on how hungry you are through the day :)

Thank you both for such quick responses! You've certainly cleared up my confusion! I guess the cooking changes the nutritional value as far as carbs are concerned?

My sheet says that as well! 😊

I have a huge list of unlimited RAW veggies:
Arugula, Bibb lettuce, Boston lettuce, celery, chicory lettuce, cucumber, endives, escarole lettuce, frisee lettuce, green and red leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, mushrooms, radicchio, radish, romaine lettuce, spinach and watercress lettuce.

Maybe Canadain IP clinics are different. My paper is updated as of 06/2014

That's exactly what mine says too!

Liz is reading from an old sheet - the same one I had when I did IP the first time. Cucumbers, mushrooms, celery, etc (those listed in post above) ARE unlimited according to the latest sheets, 6/2014.

I have trouble eating 4 cups of veggies!
I'm going to try spinach blended in my shake. Has anyone had good combinations in doing this?

I do this often. Usually mix the spinach in water first until smooth. Then I add vanilla shake mix and some SF syrup (caramel or vanilla) with ice. You can't get rid of the green color, but you can't taste it.

MAke sure you check the dates on the posts you are responding to....LizRR's post is quite old, and at that time the unlimited veggies list was MUCH smaller :) She completed her IP journey back in 2012/2013 :)

I am just a few days in and was looking at the "buyproteinfood.com" website and wanted to confirm the that p20 foods are the IP equivalents? Not sure what we can purchase from there? The prices were cheaper and the variety much more appealing?

Anyone??

Hi, I have to tell you that this is the most confusing topic of all. I have asked my coach and she says that celery, cucumber, mushroom, radish are all "unlimited" if eaten raw. My Phase 1 sheet does mention these items as "unlimited raw vegetables/lettuce". She also said if cooked, then they need to be counted as "select vegetables".... and that's why they are also listed as "select vegetables (2 cups per meal) measure before cooking". Finally, she added that if weight loss progresses well, then there is no problem at all, but that if weight loss slows down to about 1lb per week, then we need to rethink the "unlimited" cucumber, radishes etc.

Yep. 'Unlimited' really doesn't mean unlimited of course, 5 or six extra cups of veggies will make a difference, lol. Most people don't eat that much though. I wouldn't worry about the 1 lb thing. As long as you are losing pounds OR inches you are on track. Especially if you don't have much to lose, since it will significantly slow the closer to goal that you get. Cooked counts in your 4 cups but raw is unlimited.
Liana
:broc::broc:

Whew! I'm doing a reboot and was worried for a second! I didn't even look up the rules again when I started and I've been having some of those freebies to keep me going the first days! Glad they are still free for a second I thought I'd have to start again tomorrow.